Daniel leaned against the useless console, thinking he should have
stayed behind. At that last moment, Jack would have left him - he'd
done it before. Once the threat of being dragged away bodily from
Heliopolis was removed Daniel's resolve had crumbled.

With Dr. Littlefield's journal to start from, he might have been able
to interpret the atomic symbols. Even if he'd lost the gate, even if
he'd ended up like Ernest - naked and talking to imaginary friends - he
might have read the secrets of the universe in that book.